2007 Biking Burma

South and north of Mandalay…

At the Snake Pagoda, founded in 1093, three pythons are bathed and photographed and fed each morning at 11h00.

At Paleik and Sagaing the fields and hills are sequined with pagodas.

At Amarapura a 1,2 km footbridge, the longest teak span in the world, crosses Lake Taungthaman and has done so for over 200 years.

At Mingun the largest uncracked bell in the world, cast in 1808, hangs in a fantasy building with a seven-tiered tin and wood roof; and the base of an unfinished stupa (pagoda) dominates the tiny village below. The stupa was intended to be 150m high, but was never completed.